It's horrible what happened, but you can't call it a risk. There's a bigger risk from them taking the bus to the conference.
Heck, there's a bigger risk just all being in the same building.
Also, when I read the article it made it seem like these 100 were the top people in the field, but other replies made it clear that while it's a big loss there are a huge number of people in the conference.
Not exactly true. That would only apply if we were talking about all flights on average and ignoring the unique situation of flying near the Ukraine - Russia border right now.
I would say the risk is dramatically higher in that region - clearly - than for your average flight. It's a war zone in which they're now shooting down planes flying at high altitudes.
> There's a bigger risk from them taking the bus to the conference
The risk to an individual attendee of dying in a bus accident on the way to the conference is certainly higher than the risk of dying in an airplane crash on the way to the conference.
However, the risk of 100 of them dying if they all take the same flight is almost certainly higher than the risk of 100 of them dying in bus accidents on the way to the conference (even if they stay together and all travel in the same bus). Even very bad bus accidents in cities in first world countries tend to leave many more survivors than fatalities.
You are correct that it's a small risk. But the risks of losing 100 people in a bus accident or to the building collapsing are rather small compared to even a plane crash..
Anecdotally, I was in the organisation of a conf who lost a significant portion of our visitors to a tram collision a few years back. Not really of course, they were just half an hour late :P
It's horrible what happened, but you can't call it a risk. There's a bigger risk from them taking the bus to the conference.
Heck, there's a bigger risk just all being in the same building.
Also, when I read the article it made it seem like these 100 were the top people in the field, but other replies made it clear that while it's a big loss there are a huge number of people in the conference.